Reflections:

Mary, Our Mother Sctn.:

Mary's Virtues

Wisdom of the Popes, Saints, Theologians, Other...

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"How many kinds of virtues shine forth in one Virgin!"
(St. Ambrose, Doctor of the Church)

"...humility repulses Satan and preserves
us in the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. For this reason all
the saints, and especially the King of Saints and His Mother, ever
honored and cherished this virtue above all others." (St.
Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church)

"The life of Mary is set before virgins as an example, and her many virtues are dwelt upon, her chastity, humility, hard life, love of retirement, and the like; then her kindness to others, her zeal in learning, and love of frequenting the temple."
(St. Ambrose, Doctor of the Church)

"What is greater than the Mother of God?
What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose? What more
chaste than she who bore a body without contact with another body?
For why should I speak of her other virtues? She was a virgin not
only in body but also in mind" (St. Augustine, Doctor of the
Church, 4th century
A.D.)

"But
while in the most Blessed Virgin the Church has already reached
that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle (cf.
Eph. 5:27), the faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase
in holiness. And so they turn their eyes to Mary who shines forth
to the whole community of the elect as the model of virtues."
(Second Vatican Council)

"[I]t
was just that this holy Virgin should be adorned with the greatest
purity which can be conceived after that of God Himself, since God
the Father was to give to her, as her Child that only-begotten
Son, whom He loved as Himself, as being begotten to Him from His
own bosom; and this in such a manner, that the selfsame Son of God
was, by nature, the Son of both God the Father and this blessed
Virgin. This same Son chose her to be substantially His Mother;
and the Holy Ghost willed that in her womb He would operate the
conception and birth of Him from whom He Himself proceeded."
(St. Anselm, Doctor of the Church)

"Practice
Mary's virtues: the charm of her Immaculate Heart; her
recollection and spirit of prayer...; the love of God, humble,
ardent and joyous, which shines forth in the Magnificat; the love
of others as well, of all, her relatives, her friends, all men -
that incomparable charity which makes her fly to the service of
her cousin Elizabeth as soon as she learns of her approaching
motherhood, which makes her attentive to the plight of the bridal
couple when wine begins to fail at the marriage feast of Cana,
which at the end unites her so sorrowfully and so profoundly to
the sufferings of her divine Son for the salvation of the human
race." (Pope Pius XII)

"Behold
now the humility, the devotion of the virgin. For it follows, But
Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord. She calls herself His
handmaid, who is chosen to be His mother, so far was she from
being exalted by the sudden promise. At the same time also by
calling herself handmaid, she claimed to herself in no other way
the prerogative of such great grace than that she might do what
was commanded her. For about to bring forth One meek and lowly,
she was bound herself to show forth lowliness. As it follows, Be
it to me according to your word. You have her submission, you see
her wish. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, signifies the readiness
of duty. Be it to me according to your word, the conception of the
wish." (St. Ambrose, Doctor of the Church)

"The
Evangelists draw our attention to one special circumstance of the
sepulchre. St. Matthew, St. Like, and St. John, tell us that it
was new, and that no man had ever been laid in it. They holy
Fathers teach us that we must see here a mysterious dispensation,
and one of the grand glories of the holy tomb. It marks, as they
observe, the resemblance that exists between the sepulchre, which
restored the Man-God to the life of immortality, and the virginal
womb which gave him birth that he might be a victim for the
world's redemption: and they bid us learn from this, how God, when
he designs to dwell in any of his creatures, would have the
dwelling to be pure and worthy of his infinite holiness. Here,
then, is one of the glories of the holy sepulchre - that it was an
image of the incomparable Mother of Jesus." (Gueranger)

"Now
if it becomes children not to omit the imitation of any of the
virtues of this most Blessed Mother, we yet wish that the faithful
apply themselves by preference to the principal virtues which are,
as it were, the nerves and joints of the Christian life - we mean
faith, hope, and charity towards God and our neighbor. Of these
virtues the life of Mary bears in all its phases the brilliant
character; but they attained their highest degree of splendor at
the time when she stood by her dying Son. Jesus is nailed to the
cross, and the malediction is hurled against Him that 'He made
Himself the Son of God' (John xix., 7). But she unceasingly
recognized and adored the divinity in Him. She bore His dead body
to the tomb, but never for a moment doubted that He would rise
again. Then the love of God with which she burned made her a
partaker in the sufferings of Christ and the associate in His
passion; with him moreover, as if forgetful of her own sorrow, she
prayed for the pardon of the executioners although they in their
hate cried out: 'His blood be upon us and upon our children' (Matth.
xxvii., 25)." (Pope St. Pius X, "Ad Diem Illum
Laetissimum", 1904)

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